Acknowledgement – The following policy was informed by the Pulitzer Center’s ethics policy and the Society of Professional Journalists ethics code, while finding further guidance in the policies of Center for Cooperative Media, Granite State News Collaborative and Resolve Philly. 

The Charlotte Journalism Collaborative’s Editorial Standards and Practices articulate the core principles that ensure the quality and integrity of all content distributed by its members and contributors. These standards are the cornerstone of the Collaborative’s commitment to serving the public interest and preserving the public’s trust. 

Everyone who creates, evaluates, or oversees content for the CJC is responsible for familiarizing themselves with and adhering to these standards.

These standards, which are periodically reviewed and revised by the CJC, are not intended to address every question that may arise when creating or evaluating content; rather, they are meant to provide a critical resource for encouraging and facilitating discussion about whether content is suitable for distribution by the CJC. 

When in doubt about how best to interpret and apply these standards, the CJC Partner representatives should be consulted. 

Standards and Practices

The Charlotte Journalism Collaborative (CJC) is a partnership of media companies and other local institutions focusing on issues of major importance to the Charlotte region. It was launched in 2019 by the Solutions Journalism Network and was supported through its formative years by the Local Media Project, an initiative supported by the Knight Foundation to strengthen and reinvigorate local media ecosystems. 

United by a shared commitment to the power of storytelling, the collaborative brings together journalists, news organizations and community institutions to create a more informed and engaged Charlotte. The CJC is modeled on the SJN method of investigating and reporting news with a primary focus on solutions to community problems and on a collaborative model that enhances the local news ecosystem in Charlotte, encourages joint reporting, and increases the impact of local news as a primary resource for area residents. 

The CJC, made up of its Partners, decides its journalism focus. Content distributed by the CJC should reflect the highest standards of quality, demonstrate a rigorous commitment to editorial integrity unencumbered by commercial imperatives, and further society’s fundamental interest in informed civil discourse. 

We strive to be honest, accurate, truthful and fair. We do not distort or fabricate facts, imagery, sound or data, and we seek to provide accurate context for all reporting. 

The CJC strives to offer content that expresses diverse perspectives and furthers the goals of a democratic society. CJC does this by giving the public access to content on a range of issues so that they can participate in civic dialogue and make informed judgements about the significant issues facing our community. In doing so, the CJC aims to reflect the pluralism of society and address the needs of unserved and underserved audiences. 

Editorial Principles

The following Editorial Principles are the cornerstone of editorial integrity that foster trust in CJC content. 

These principles – all of which are of equal importance – govern those who produce content for the CJC, who must apply them in good faith and using their best judgment. Through these principles, the CJC aims to keep a promise of providing content that is objective and balanced. 

The Editorial Principles apply to content distributed by the CJC on all platforms, including social media and other emerging technologies. Given that platforms differ in terms of format, tone, voice, and audience expectations, the interpretation and application of these principles will necessarily consider those factors. 

Similarly, judgments about how best to interpret and implement these principles may differ depending on the content’s subject and the intended audience. 

For instance, though opinion or commentary content regarding a particular subject do not necessarily need to express all possible viewpoints, such content does need to rigorously uphold the principle of transparency by making it clear to the audience why a particular opinion was explored and why particular sources were chosen.

The CJC recognizes that it is impossible to anticipate every circumstance that may arise in the production of content, and ensuring the editorial integrity of content depends on the professionalism and thoughtfulness of those producing content for CJC.

Editorial Independence

Editorial independence is essential to serving the public interest and preserving the public’s trust. The CJC maintains a clear separation between editorial decisions and all sources of revenue. This firewall ensures that funding does not present a conflict of interest for our journalism or compromise our editorial independence. 

Content distributed by the CJC must be free of undue influence from third-party funders, political interests, and other outside forces. The CJC must remain unwavering in its commitment to distributing content that exemplifies ethical and journalistic integrity rather than advancing commercial interests. This obligation is achieved through the good-faith professional judgment of those producing content for the CJC and by carefully listening to the public.

Accuracy

Accuracy means honesty, fidelity to facts, and humility on the part of those producing content for the CJC to question their own assumptions about the subjects they are handling. Accuracy includes more than simply verifying whether information is correct; facts must be placed in sufficient context based on the nature of the piece to ensure that the public is not misled.

Those producing content for the CJC must also be mindful of the language used to frame the facts to avoid deceiving or misleading the audience or encouraging false inferences.

A commitment to accuracy also requires gathering, updating, and promptly correcting information as a story develops. Those producing content for the CJC must exercise the highest level of care in verifying information, especially when it relates to any accusations of wrongdoing.

Fairness

Those producing content for the CJC must consider all relevant facts and perspectives on a particular subject and present information in a respectful and responsible manner — without favoritism or discrimination. Fairness does not require that equal time be given to conflicting opinions or viewpoints. Fairness does, however, require those producing content for the CJC be open-minded when evaluating the merits and assessing the credibility of all opinions or viewpoints while also managing their own personal opinions and biases.

One purpose of fairness is for audiences to appreciate and learn from content, even if they disagree with its conclusions. Fairness also requires that producers carefully represent the words and actions of individuals they interview or otherwise cover. Producers must never manipulate the views of those individuals in an effort to cast them in stereotypical roles or to support predetermined perspectives. Instead, those producing content for the CJC must be mindful of the culture, history, and social customs of those individuals when presenting their views. Those producing content for the CJC must give those they cover the opportunity to present their strongest case, while always providing appropriate context to the audience, and those producing content for the CJC must give those who are the subject of attack or criticism a reasonable opportunity to respond.

Transparency

Transparency is the principle that content should be produced in a way that allows the audience to evaluate the credibility of the work and determine for themselves whether it is trustworthy. 

Those producing content for the CJC must be open with the audience — to the extent practical — about how the work was done. Being transparent is the proof, in effect, that the editorial principles outlined in these standards are living principles that inform a professional and ethical editorial process — not simply words on a page.

While specific methods may vary by circumstance and platform, transparency means respecting that the audience is entitled to understand significant underlying editorial decisions. If those producing content for the CJC arrive at a certain conclusion or a point of view, the audience should be able to evaluate how that conclusion or view was reached. Those producing content for the CJC who face difficult editorial decisions should consider explaining why certain choices were made; if relevant questions cannot be answered, those producing content for the CJC should endeavor to explain why. 

Sources must be clearly identified, and, in those rare instances when confidential sources need to be used, producers must explain the decision to allow anonymity. Transparency also means using labels or other disclosures when presenting information that might be unclear or confusing to the audience. 

Inclusiveness

The CJC strives to contribute to informed debate by presenting, over time, content that addresses a broad range of ideas, information, and perspectives. Inclusiveness means that content should reflect the views of people from different backgrounds, such as geographic areas, ethnicities, genders, age groups, religious beliefs, political viewpoints, and income levels.

Those producing content for the CJC must remain accountable and responsive to the audience. Accountability requires those producing content for the CJC to stand by their work and to be prepared and willing to respond to relevant inquiries about it, including through active and thoughtful digital engagement with the audience.

Accountability also means that those producing content for the CJC must adhere to the highest professional standards of conduct and diligently pursue and report the truth. Conflicts of interest must be avoided, and any real or perceived conflicts that could have the appearance of influencing content must be disclosed to the CJC. 

Those producing content for the CJC must correct errors, in close consultation with the CJC and its editorial partners, as soon as they determine that errors occurred. Those producing content for the CJC must also work closely with the CJC to respond in a timely manner, and to the best of their abilities, to questions or criticisms from the public about significant editorial decisions or ethical issues related to content.

Donor Transparency Policy

Gifts, grants, and sponsorships from individuals and organizations help to fund our mission, but our judgements are made independently and not on the basis of donor support. Acceptance of financial support does not constitute implied or actual endorsement of donors or their positions. 

The CJC may accept financial support for reporting on particular topics. Our collaborative partners determine what those topics are and the Charlotte Journalism Collaborative or its newsroom partners retain editorial control of the resulting coverage. We do not give donors the rights to assign, review, or edit content and editorial copy is never shared with donors prior to publication. 

Members of Charlotte Journalism Collaborative’s staff, contractors, collaborative partners and their representatives do not accept gifts or favors of more than nominal value, nor any special treatment, from any person or entity that is or could be a subject of or source for our coverage, or otherwise have an interest in Charlotte Journalism Collaborative’s reporting. 

Our organization makes public all donors who give a total of $5,000 or more per year. As a journalism collaborative and in compliance with our fiscal sponsor, Queens University of Charlotte, we avoid accepting charitable donations from anonymous sources, political parties, elected officials or candidates seeking public office. We will not accept donations from sources who, deemed by our Collaborative Partners or Queens University of Charlotte, present a conflict of interest with our work or compromise our independence. 

Artificial Intelligence Policy

Generative artificial intelligence is the use of large language models to create something new, such as texts, images, graphics, and interactive media. Although generative AI has the potential to improve newsgathering, it also has the potential to harm journalists’ credibility and our unique relationship with our audience. 

Transparency

Externally, when we publish any content that was created by AI, we will tell our audience. We will work with our Collaborative Partners, editors and designers to create the proper disclosures. This may be a short tagline, a caption or credit, or for something more substantial, like an editor’s note. When appropriate, we will include the prompts that fed into the model to generate the material

Internally, it will be clear to our Collaborative Partners whenever we are using generative AI. This will facilitate collective learning and help us create applicable, transitory policies as the technologies evolve. This may include using AI to do research, generate headlines, comb through databases, or summarize content for social media. 

Accuracy and human verification – All information generated by AI requires human verification. Everything we publish will live up to our standards of verification. Increasingly in all of our work, it is important to be explicit about how we know that facts are facts. This will be particularly important when using AI. 

Audience service – Our work in AI should be guided by what will be useful to our audience as we serve them. We have made a promise to our audience to provide them with information that helps them navigate complex issues. Use of AI in work of the CJC must be guided by this mission. 

Exploration – With the three previous principles as our foundation, we will embrace exploration and experimentation.